A “Colossal” Movie

Colossal is a psychological drama and a monster movie. There’s some magical realism in there. I’m really not sure of the odd mix of genres that make up this fascinating movie. But is that a bad thing — a movie that doesn’t fall into a predefined market niche? Not in this case.

Anne Hathaway gives a powerful performance as the movie’s main character Gloria, who’s in trouble. Addiction to alcohol has destroyed Gloria’s career and gotten her kicked out of her boyfriend’s apartment. She returns to her childhood home, where she meets up with an old acquaintance and starts work at his bar (!) while she tries to figure out what’s next.

Meanwhile, across the world, a huge monster appears, terrorizing the people of Seoul, South Korea as if we were in a Godzilla movie. Gradually, Gloria realizes this creature’s appearances have something to do with her life on the other side of the world.

It’s at about that point that I suspended disbelief and went where the movie took me. Which was a really winding path that surprised me several times.

This movie is imaginative, chilling, rewarding. It’s full of metaphor, and yet it’s very real and immediate. It handles lots of issues — alcoholism, bad relationships, and self-empowerment — but it always stays entertaining.

Jason Sudeikis’ performance as Oscar is brilliant and downright frightening. And I’ll leave the description at that! The best way to see this movie is to just go and enjoy.